Apple’s nod to Linux

Apple filed its annual Form 10K with the Securities and Exchange Commission today, and there was a notable addition to the otherwise standard boilerplate about the risks faced by the company. Everything in this excerpt is the same as in last year’s 10K, except the new part I’ve put in bold.

The Company believes that decisions by customers to purchase the Company’s personal computers, as opposed to Windows-based systems, are often based on the availability of third-party software for particular applications such as Microsoft Office. The Company also believes the availability of third-party application software for the Company’s hardware products depends in part on third-party developers’ perception and analysis of the relative benefits of developing, maintaining, and upgrading such software for the Company’s products versus software for the larger Windows market or growing Linux market.

To be clear, it’s not the first time Apple has referred to Linux in a competitive context in its annual 10K filing. The company noted last year, for example, that the PC market “is dominated by makers of computers utilizing other competing operating systems, including Windows and Linux.” But the addition of that particular language in this year’s filing is interesting.